Investing.com - The euro was trading close to two week lows against the broadly stronger dollar on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announce that it will start to roll back monetary stimulus from next month.
EUR/USD fell to session lows of 1.3648, the weakest level since December 6 and was last down 0.12% to 1.3668.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3618, the low of December 6 and resistance at 1.3720.
The dollar strengthened across the board after the Fed announced Wednesday that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January.
In his last press conference as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was continuing to make progress.
The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider rate increases.
The euro was almost unchanged against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8348.
Sterling showed little reaction after official data on Thursday showed that U.K. retail sales increased by 0.3% last month and were 2% higher on a year-over-year basis. Economists had forecast a monthly gain of 0.3% and an annual increase of 2.3%.
Demand for the pound continued to be underpinned after recent upbeat U.K. economic data fuelled hopes that the Bank of England will raise interest rates ahead of other central banks.
Elsewhere, the dollar eased back from five year highs against the yen. USD/JPY was down 0.11% to 104.17, after rising as high as 104.35 earlier, the highest level since October 2008.
EUR/USD fell to session lows of 1.3648, the weakest level since December 6 and was last down 0.12% to 1.3668.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3618, the low of December 6 and resistance at 1.3720.
The dollar strengthened across the board after the Fed announced Wednesday that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January.
In his last press conference as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was continuing to make progress.
The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider rate increases.
The euro was almost unchanged against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.01% to 0.8348.
Sterling showed little reaction after official data on Thursday showed that U.K. retail sales increased by 0.3% last month and were 2% higher on a year-over-year basis. Economists had forecast a monthly gain of 0.3% and an annual increase of 2.3%.
Demand for the pound continued to be underpinned after recent upbeat U.K. economic data fuelled hopes that the Bank of England will raise interest rates ahead of other central banks.
Elsewhere, the dollar eased back from five year highs against the yen. USD/JPY was down 0.11% to 104.17, after rising as high as 104.35 earlier, the highest level since October 2008.